Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), which is widely used in the step of cleaning a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) device or etching a semiconductor in electronic component industry, is generally prepared by reacting fluorine (F2) with ammonia (NH3) or/and an ammonium salt, or by direct electrolysis of ammonium fluoride. Nitrogen trifluoride thus obtained contains about 10-100 ppm of carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) impurity.
The recent demand of ultra-high purity nitrogen trifluoride requires that the concentration of carbon tetrafluoride be 10 ppm or less.
However, as the boiling points of nitrogen trifluoride and carbon tetrafluoride are very similar, −129° C. and −128° C., respectively, differing by a mere 1° C., and the molecular sizes and polarities thereof are also similar, it has been very difficult to remove carbon tetrafluoride from nitrogen trifluoride by a conventional industrial distillation or absorption process.